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120 Hours Until the Consistent Treatment of Simultaneous Death Under the California Probate Code

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120 Hours Until the Consistent Treatment of Simultaneous Death Under the California Probate Code Nova Law Review Volume 34, Issue 2 2015 Article 5 120 Hours Until the Consistent Treatment of Simultaneous Death Under the California Probate Code Victoria J. Haneman∗ Jennifer M. Boothy ∗ y Copyright c 2015 by the authors. Nova Law Review is produced by The Berkeley Electronic Press (bepress). https://nsuworks.nova.edu/nlr Haneman and Booth: 120 Hours Until the Consistent Treatment of Simultaneous Death Un 120 HOURS UNTIL THE CONSISTENT TREATMENT OF SIMULTANEOUS DEATH UNDER THE CALIFORNIA PROBATE CODE VICTORIA J. HANEMAN JENNIFER M. BOOTH* I. AN OVERVIEW OF SIMULTANEOUS DEATH IN CALIFORNIA ..............451 A. Overview of Simultaneous Death ..............................................451 B. Governing Statutes in California.............................................. 453 C. The Model Uniform Code and the Uniform Simultaneous Death A ct ...................................................................................455 II. THE EFFECT OF INCONSISTENT LEGISLATION IN CALIFORNIA ...........457 A . Holographic Wills .....................................................................458 B. Formally Attested Wills .............................................................461 III. INCONSISTENT LEGISLATION-INDICATES INTENTIONAL O M ISSIO N ...........................................................................................463 IV . CALIFORNIA'S SOLUTION ...................................................................466 A. Benefits of the 120-Hour Rule ...................................................467 B . Anticipated Criticisms............................................................... 469 V . C ON CLUSIO N ......................................................................................470 "[A] man's dying is more the survivors' affair than his own."' Murders, plagues, accidents, tragedies, and disasters regularly claim multiple lives in one fell blow. 2 The issue of simultaneous death arises when * Victoria J. Haneman, Associate Professor of Law, University of La Verne College of Law; B.A., Arizona State University, 1996; J.D., California Western School of Law, 1999; LL.M., New York University, 2000, Taxation. Jennifer M. Booth, B.A., University of Cali- fornia Santa Barbara, 1999; J.D., California Western School of Law, 2007. An earlier version of this paper was presented by Professor Haneman at the "Emerging Issues in Estate Planning, Probate & Trust Law Symposium," Thurgood Marshall School of Law, Houston, Texas, March 26, 2009. The authors would like to thank research assistants Benjamin Reusch and Shannon Shafron Perez. 1. THOMAS MANN, THE MAGIC MOUNTAIN 532 (H.T. Lowe-Porter trans., Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. 13th ed. 1963) (1927). 2. Advances in modern transportation may increase the frequency with which simulta- neous deaths occur. See Stephen M. Arcuri, Note, Does Simultaneous Really Mean Simulta- neous? Interpreting the Uniform Simultaneous Death Act, 17 QUINNIPIAC PROB. L.J. 338, 340-41 (2004) (noting the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws' recognition that "instances of simultaneous death [would increase] as a result of the advances in forms of transportation"); Richard W. Harris, Federal Estate Tax Consequences of Com- mon Disasters or Closely Proximate Deaths, 47 TAx LAW. 763, 763 (1994); Keith A. Pagano, Published by NSUWorks, 2015 1 Nova Law Review, Vol. 34, Iss. 2 [2015], Art. 5 NOVA LAW REVIEW [Vol. 34 there is insufficient evidence that two individuals died otherwise than simul- taneously. Imagine, for example, a newly married couple is riding on a train. A tragic accident ensues and the train is derailed. Husband is partially deca- pitated, and Wife's heart is unceremoniously severed by a metal stake. The first medical expert speculates that Husband survived Wife by at least three minutes. After examining the remains, this expert believes that the partial decapitation left the spinal column intact, and blood flow continued to Hus- band's brain for several minutes. Conversely, the second medical expert asserts that Wife survived Husband. She believes that both Husband and Wife died immediately after receiving their injuries, but Wife's injuries were incurred later than Husband's, based upon where she was seated in the train car at time of impact. If it is resolved that Wife survived Husband, Wife's heirs will inherit Husband's assets through Wife. And if it is resolved that Husband survived Wife, Husband's heirs will inherit Wife's assets through Husband. As a result, much is at stake for the heirs apparent, 3 and litigation ensues. In the case of closely proximate deaths, the legal issue that must be re- solved is the order of death. Irrebuttable prescription of a particular order of death simplifies resolution of this question of fact. Therefore, many states have adopted arbitrary time periods by which one decedent must survive the other to inherit.4 In California, the simultaneous death statutes are asymme- trical. As a result, the devolution of property in such cases5 will hinge entire- ly upon the type of estate plan adopted by the decedents. If the decedent dies intestate, California Probate Code (CPC) section 6403 requires clear and convincing evidence of survival by 120 hours.6 CPC section 6211 applies to statutory wills, and adopts the same standard. 7 CPC section 220 is applicable to those decedents who die with a non-statutory will in place-such as a holographic will or a formally attested will.8 This sec- tion requires clear and convincing evidence of death, but does not adopt the 9 120-hour rule. Note, Simul et Semel: Estate Planning Principlesand the Uniform Simultaneous Death Act's Corresponding Tax Consequences, 14 QUINNIPIAC PROB. L.J. 449,449-50 (2000). 3. An heir apparent is defined as "a person who is certain to inherit unless excluded by valid will." THE LAw DICTIONARY 195 (7th ed. 1997). 4. See Harris, supra note 2, at 764-65. 5. See 3 California Probate Practice, § 23.05(2)(b)(i) (LexisNexis Matthew Bender 2009). 6. CAL. PROB. CODE § 6403(a) (West 2010). 7. CAL. PROB. CODE § 6211 (West 2010). 8. See CAL. PROB. CODE § 220 (West 2010). 9. Id. https://nsuworks.nova.edu/nlr/vol34/iss2/5 2 Haneman and Booth: 120 Hours Until the Consistent Treatment of Simultaneous Death Un 2010] SIMULTANEOUS DEATH IN CALIFORNIA The same policies that prompted the California Legislature to adopt the 120-hour rule in some instances can be argued to support the 120-hour rule in other instances. A more compelling argument in favor of legislative symmetry, however, is the fact that inheritance should not turn merely upon the testamentary instrument-or lack thereof-selected by the decedent. The present inconsistency has little or no detrimental effect upon a decedent who retains counsel to draft his testamentary instruments, while the self- represented decedent is adversely affected. This Article proposes that the 120-hour rule be codified as a default rule, applying to all instruments in lieu of a provision to the contrary. Sec- tion I considers the evolution of the California simultaneous death statutes. The inconsistencies in the California statute are considered in Section II, and weighed against a broader normative standard. Section lIl sets forth the pro- posal that the 120-hour rule be consistently adopted through the CPC as the standard default rule, and counters criticisms. I. AN OVERVIEW OF SIMULTANEOUS DEATH1" IN CALIFORNIA A. Overview of Simultaneous Death Rapid mass transportation, natural disasters, and multiple homicides" are common situations in which a decedent and his heir apparent will perish without clear evidence as to the order of death.' 2 Order of death is the ques- tion raised by the closely proximate deaths of the decedent and his heir ap- 10. The term "simultaneous death" is a misnomer, since the two individuals may not have died simultaneously. In this Article, the term is used to indicate a scenario in which the two individuals are known to have died at approximately the same time, but the order of their death is uncertain. 11. One multiple murder case occurred in Woodstock, Illinois, when Richard Church allegedly brutally beat and stabbed his former girlfriend's parents and attacked the girlfriend and her younger brother. Marja Mills & Nancy Ryan, New Clue in Woodstock Slayings: 2 NIU Students Report Seeing Suspect Richard Church, Cm. TRIB., Sept. 13, 1989, at D6. The coroner's office determined that the parents died within a minute of each other. Id. Due to the close proximity of their deaths, a simultaneous death issue arose as to whose heirs should get the proceeds of a $360,000 life insurance policy. Id. Based on their wills, if the mother had been deemed to have survived, the money would go to her estate and the children would inherit the proceeds. Id. However, based on the coroner's report, the father was deemed to have survived the mother by one minute; therefore, the proceeds were to go to his father, recently deceased. Id. Fortunately, the family members negotiated the disbursement of these funds and ensured the children were provided for; however, this is not always the case. Mills & Ryan, supra. Newspapers across the country are inundated with stories of murders and other types of incidents where multiple deaths occur within close proximity of each other. 12. Perhaps there are no surviving eyewitnesses to attest to order of death, or alternative- ly, the nature of the disaster or accident leaves the order of death in question. Published by NSUWorks, 2015 3 Nova Law Review, Vol. 34, Iss. 2 [2015], Art. 5 NOVA LAW REVIEW
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